Each week until the election, The Chronicle will publish a compilation of lies, half-truths and contradictions uttered by the presidential campaigns and their supporters during the previous week. Many of the distortions were not seen in California or appeared only on cable networks.- Joe Garofoli

The statement

In TV ads and speeches Barack Obama says John McCain would pay for part of his proposed health care plan by "making drastic cuts in Medicare - $882-billion worth."

A Republican National Committee mailer sent to homes in swing state Virginia declares, "Barack Obama thinks terrorists just need a good talking to."

When asked by NBC's Brian Williams if she was a feminist, GOP vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin said, "I think that's what annoys a lot of Americans, especially in a political campaign, is to start trying to label different parts of America."

The National Rifle Association is running a TV ad in swing states featuring a woman grabbing a gun to fend off an intruder in her house. This "true story" illustrates how Obama "voted four times to deny citizens the right of self-protection, even in their home."

The distortion

McCain has not said he would cut Medicare services to make his plan "budget neutral." By basing his comments on the assumptions of a liberal think tank analysis, Obama is "overstepping" and his attack is "false," says Politifact.com

It is a gross distortion of Obama's belief in "tough-minded diplomacy" with nations that sponsor terrorism - in addition to political, military and economic pressure. Politifact.com said the RNC "claim is beyond false. It's Pants on Fire wrong."

No business of any size would be hit with a 62 percent rate. The ads contain so many errors and distortions that Gerald Prante, a senior economist at the nonpartisan, but pro-business, Tax Foundation wrote, "This is so ridiculous that I'm almost at a loss for words."

Nice sentiment - but on the campaign trail Palin has praised "small-town America" as "the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation." Top McCain aide Nancy Pfotenhauer said that although northern Virginia might support Obama, "real Virginia" (the "part of the state that's more Southern in nature") will be "very responsive" to McCain.

First, the true "true story" in Illinois didn't involve a woman. As a state legislator in 2004, Obama "opposed a bill that said local gun bans could not be enforced in cases where the gun owner could prove the weapon was being used in self-defense," Factcheck.org said. The measure passed. But Obama is not proposing to ban hand guns used for self-protection.

The statement

A McCain campaign online ad uses the ubiquitous "Joe the Plumber" to reheat an erroneous claim that the Obama tax cuts would be like giving "'welfare to those who pay none" and would raise taxes on "hard-working families" and seniors.

Ever since the final debate, McCain has been flogging the line that Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher personally would pay higher taxes under Obama's plan.

In a TV ad, Obama says McCain's health plan will result in a "22 percent cut" in benefits.

Failed GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani recorded a robo call sent to voters in Wisconsin, Virginia and elsewhere in which he says Obama "opposes mandatory prison sentences for sex offenders, drug dealers and murderers."

The distortion

Those claims have been proven false repeatedly. Obama's plan would raise taxes on families making over $250,000. He would reduce federal income taxes to 0 percent for people 65 and older who make less than $50,000. The only seniors to see an increase would be single payers making over $200,000.

McCain's plan does not require health insurance companies to cover those with pre-existing conditions but that "is not the same as saying that the plan 'would deny coverage,' " said FactCheck.org.

First, the plumbing company Joe talked about taking over makes about $100,000 - Obama's tax kicks in for families making over $250,000. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, presuming Joe makes between $38,000 and $66,000, he'd pay $1,042 less under Obama's plan.

This frightens seniors - and is inaccurate. McCain's health plan may be vague in explaining how it would be "budget neutral," but a McCain senior adviser promised not to cut benefits. Obama's camp made a huge leap in extrapolating the "22 percent cut" from an interview where a McCain aide said he would fund the plan "in part" by looking for "savings" in Medicare and Medicaid.

Giuliani omitted a key word: Obama opposes mandatory "minimum" sentences - as do the Sentencing Commission, the Judicial Conference and the American Bar Association. Former Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist said they "frustrate the careful calibration of sentences."